Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow: Why They Matter for AI Search

Bing Webmaster Tools matters for AI search for a documented reason: since February 2026, Microsoft offers the AI Performance report in it, which shows when your site is cited in Copilot answers and in Bing summaries. IndexNow is the protocol that tells participating search engines when a page changes. Both are free, and neither guarantees a citation.

Quick summary

• The AI Performance report (public preview since February 10, 2026) shows citations in Microsoft Copilot AI answers, in Bing summaries and in selected partners.
• It does not measure clicks, the page's position in the answer or a page's relative importance. The "grounding queries" data is a sample, not the total.
• IndexNow notifies participating search engines about pages created, updated or removed. According to the protocol itself, submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing.
• The list of IndexNow participants published in the FAQ does not include Google. Keep using a sitemap and Search Console for Google.
• The relationship between Bing and the index of other assistants (such as ChatGPT) is not confirmed in any official documentation I was able to verify.

This post is part of the AI search map described in SEO, AEO and GEO: what is the difference. For the most widely used assistant, see how to show up in ChatGPT.

How to read this post: if you are not technical, read "Why does Bing come up in an AI conversation?" and follow the step-by-step, using a plugin instead of the code. If you are a professional, go to the AI Performance details, the IndexNow API call and the limitations.

Why does Bing come up in an AI conversation?

Because Microsoft uses Bing Webmaster Tools as the official tool for showing how your content appears in AI-generated answers across its ecosystem. Even if your audience mostly uses Google, Copilot and Bing summaries cite sites as sources, and this is a first-party report on those citations.

In plain English: Google Search Console shows how Google sees your site. Bing Webmaster Tools does the same for Bing and, now, also tells you in which Microsoft AI answers your site was cited as a source. It is one more mirror, at no cost.

On ChatGPT and Bing: secondary sources claim that ChatGPT uses Bing data for part of its searches. I could not confirm this in OpenAI's official documentation, and OpenAI's crawler page describes OAI-SearchBot as the bot that shows sites in ChatGPT search. Treat the Bing-ChatGPT link as unconfirmed, and do not set up Bing expecting a direct effect there.

What is Bing's AI Performance report?

It is a dashboard that counts the times your site was shown as a source in AI-generated answers. Microsoft announced the feature on February 10, 2026, in public preview, on the official Bing Webmaster blog. It covers Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and "select partnerships."

The indicators described in the announcement:

Indicator	What it means
Total citations	How many times your content was displayed as a source in AI answers
Average cited pages	Daily average of unique pages displayed as a source
Page-level citation activity	Which specific URLs were cited
Grounding queries	Key phrases the AI used when retrieving the cited content
Trend	How citations vary over time

The announcement itself lists what the report does not measure: clicks, page position or authority, placement within the answer and the individual importance of a page in a specific answer. Search Engine Journal notes that Microsoft describes the grounding queries data as a sample and promises to refine the metrics, according to its coverage of the launch.

For SEO professionals: grounding queries show which queries the system used to retrieve your page, which helps you discover questions you do not cover yet. Because they are a sample and carry no clicks, use the report as a directional signal, not as a standalone KPI. Compare with AI Overviews data on Google, which Google Search Console includes in the "Web" search type with no specific filter, according to Google.

What is IndexNow and how does it work?

IndexNow is an open protocol in which the site notifies participating search engines as soon as it creates, updates or removes a page. The IndexNow documentation explains that you host a key file (a .txt containing the key) at the site root to prove you own it, and send the URLs with a simple call. A single request accepts up to 10,000 URLs.

In plain English: without IndexNow, the search engine finds out about changes when it next visits your site, and you wait. With IndexNow, you tell it right away: "I changed this page." It is like sending a message instead of waiting for the mail carrier.

The IndexNow FAQ has limits that prevent false expectations:

• Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing; the protocol only raises the chance that the change is discovered faster.
• Listed participants: Amazon, Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep. Google is not on the list.
• Submit when there is a relevant change (new page, update, removal). Avoid resubmitting the same URL several times a day; for pages that change often, the FAQ recommends waiting at least 5 minutes between updates.
• A submission made to one participant is shared with the others.

Why does IndexNow matter for AI answers?

Because Microsoft recommends it in the AI Performance announcement itself, among the tools for notifying search engines about added, updated or removed content. For anyone with prices, inventory or dates that change, the logic is simple (and it is my deduction, not published data): the sooner the search engine learns about the change, the shorter the time an old version can be the one the system sees.

It is necessary to separate what is documented from what is deduction. Documented: Microsoft recommends IndexNow in the context of AI and of the report. Deduction: that a fast submission makes a page get cited more often. There is no public data proving that, and IndexNow only handles discovery. If the page is weak, notifying the search engine does not make it citable. For the content side, see how to structure content that LLMs can cite.

For the full cycle of how assistants retrieve pages (search, reading passages, answering), read how LLMs search: RAG and grounding.

How do I set up Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow, step by step?

There are five steps, and most of it takes minutes.

1. Create the account and add the site in Bing Webmaster Tools. If you have already verified the site in Google Search Console, there is an option to import from there. Otherwise, verify manually (XML file at the root, meta tag in the <head> or a CNAME record in DNS). For Search Console, see the beginner's guide.
2. Submit the sitemap (/sitemap.xml) and confirm the file lists only indexable URLs.
3. Turn on IndexNow. The simplest path depends on your platform. Bing says Wix, Duda, GoDaddy and Shopify already ship with IndexNow built in, that there are WordPress plugins (such as Yoast, Rank Math and AIOSEO), and that Cloudflare users can enable it through the Crawler Hints feature, according to Bing's guide.
4. No plugin? Do it manually. Generate a key, host it at https://www.yoursite.com/YOURKEY.txt and submit the changed URLs:

   curl -X POST "https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d '{
       "host": "www.yoursite.com",
       "key": "YOURKEY",
       "keyLocation": "https://www.yoursite.com/YOURKEY.txt",
       "urlList": [
         "https://www.yoursite.com/updated-page",
         "https://www.yoursite.com/new-post"
       ]
     }'
   

   Expected responses, according to the documentation: 200 (submitted), 202 (accepted, key validation pending), 403 (invalid key) and 429 (too many requests).
5. Follow up. In Bing Webmaster Tools, check that the URLs were received and, over time, open AI Performance to see citations.

For SEO professionals: automate the submission on the CMS publish or update event (webhook), not with a cron job that resubmits everything. Also submit removed or redirected URLs, not just new ones. Combine it with a correct lastmod in the sitemap: the protocol says something changed, the sitemap says when, and the two have to be consistent.

Hypothetical example: a store with changing prices

Hypothetical example: "Harbor & Pine," a fictional furniture store, changes prices and availability every week. It installs the IndexNow plugin on WordPress and verifies the site in Bing Webmaster Tools by importing from Search Console.

After a few weeks, AI Performance shows citations for two buying-guide pages and none of the product pages. In the grounding queries, phrases like "how to choose a small sleeper sofa" appear. The team then adds a Q&A section to the category pages, with dimensions and delivery times, and uses IndexNow to signal the changes.

What Harbor & Pine can conclude: its guides were used as a source and there are questions to cover. What it cannot conclude: that sales went up because of it, since the report carries no clicks. For that, cross-check with GA4 (see how to measure AI visibility).

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Bing Webmaster Tools if my audience only uses Google?

It is not mandatory, but it is free and gives you data Search Console does not: citations in Microsoft's AI answers. If Copilot and Bing are irrelevant to your audience, the gain is small. A half-hour setup is a low cost for having a second diagnostic dashboard.

Does IndexNow make my site appear in ChatGPT or Gemini?

No documentation says that. IndexNow notifies participating search engines, and the FAQ list does not include Google. It helps with fast discovery on Bing and the other participants. For ChatGPT, the documented technical point is not blocking OAI-SearchBot. For Gemini, Google Search's rules apply.

Does IndexNow replace the sitemap?

No. The sitemap lists URLs and modification dates, and IndexNow notifies changes in near real time. Use both. The sitemap is read by all search engines, including Google, which does not take part in IndexNow.

Is there a problem with submitting many URLs per day?

There can be. The FAQ advises avoiding resubmitting the same URL several times a day without a relevant change and waiting at least 5 minutes between updates to the same page. The protocol accepts up to 10,000 URLs per request, but that is a technical limit, not an incentive to submit everything.

Does AI Performance show how much traffic AI sent me?

No. Microsoft states the dashboard does not include click data. It measures citations. For visits, use session sources in GA4 and compare with the previous period. Treat the two as complementary points of view.

Next step

With Bing and IndexNow set up, the next step is managing who can and cannot crawl your site, in robots.txt and AI crawlers. To check whether AI answers actually mention your brand, use the test in how to find out if AI recommends your brand. If you publish content frequently, Contentor's article generator can help keep new and updated pages flowing, with WordPress publishing.

Read also:

• Technical SEO basics
• Google Search Console for beginners
• How LLMs search: RAG and grounding